Make Today Matter Mini Makeover Catalog

Mini #145
This is the featured Mini for our April 2011 Sat. morning workshop

In this busy day and age, a personal note means so much to the recipient. In this Mini-Makeover, we will create a portable writing station to organize our writing materials (from cards to stationary and pens), as well as, review the lost art of writing personal correspondence.

So often we say “I should send her a card” or “I need to write to Aunt Sally” and because we don’t have our writing materials together, often, the letter or card never gets written.  Creating a writing station will allow you to have all your writing materials (from pens to paper to stamps and addresses) in one easily accessible location - enabling you to get that “thinking of you” or “thank you” note in the mail quickly.

We will also cover how to write a reply to common situations (thank you, congratulations, apology and condolences).

Mini #144
Written by Asst. Director, Debbie C.

Now that we have discussed choosing locations, packing, how to get there, etc., it is time to talk about taking our children with us on vacation.  This mini will cover ways to make traveling with children more educational, entertaining and fun while exploring the continental US (many of the ideas can be used when traveling overseas, but we will not be covering how to deal with long plane flights, jet lag or how to make traveling in a foreign country easier).  We will talk about how to get your children more excited about the 8 hour car ride to grandma’s; tricks of traveling with kids in airports; ways to make traveling with infants and small children easier; and possibilities of fun when traveling by train, etc.  This mini will also cover games you can play with your children that do not require batteries, sound effects, or even light in many cases!  Finally, at the end of the mini will be a list of resources that you can use when planning your trip.  So, come along and let’s have some fun traveling with our kids!

Mini #143
15 pages

The Pursuit of Paper Perfection Mini series is edited by MTM member, SherrieBeth. It is a compilation of extracted material from Brook’s two online paper courses– Managing Everyday Paper and Paper Piles and Files–put into manageable minis for members.

Filing…the very thought of it can fill one with dread and anxiety.  “Now that I’ve done the sorting, categorizing, trashing, and learned how to process my active paper…where does it all go when I’m done?   What do I do with it NOW??”

The objective of this mini-makeover is to answer these questions for us so that we now have a pile-less, stash-less, efficient paper management system that serves our needs.  We need to be able to find something if we need it.  We need to be able to put something away when we are done with it.  We need to never have a stash of paper, lurking behind the shadows, and mocking our effectiveness, ever again.

We review both short term and long term filing as well as different filing systems. We also create our filing categories to set up our system.